by Lisa Hummel

In the six months since I’d last heard his voice, I’d read much about the tobacco settlement issues: Who was in charge of the money, who wanted to be in charge of the money, where the money should go, who thought the money should go where and why … but the sound of his voice never left my mind. He isn’t a corporation. He isn’t an organization. He isn’t an elected official. When it all comes down to it, he has no real say in where the money will eventually go at all, as no money will most likely ever grace his hands. He’s just a man who smoked for 28 years and lost his larynx because of it, a man whose voice is just a gravely whisper of what it used to be. He’s a cancer survivor, and his name is Bill Dunn.

Dunn, who began smoking at the age of 12, attended the National Health Associations’ Rally at the Capitol last April 20, and spoke before the some 1200 attendees about the dangers of smoking and offered his thoughts on how the $11.3 billion dollar settlement from the tobacco industries to the state should be spent. And while on that day the venue may have been different and the media more of a presence, Dunn stood before the crown and delivered an address that he has given on a regular basis since 1990, speaking on the dangers of tobacco and the affects it has had on his life.

For the past nine years, Dunn has been working hand-in-hand with numerous state health agencies — the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, as well as many tobacco coalitions — and has offered himself as the model for the consequences of tobacco use to the more than 100,000 children to whom he has told his story. “Tobacco doesn’t always kill,” Dunn said, six months after the rally, explaining the inspiration for his speech, “sometimes it’s a disease or an addiction that takes years to show the results … I think the kids need to hear from the survivors and those affected."

Like countless others, Dunn has definite ideas on where the money should be allocated. In fact, he has hopes that some portion of the tobacco settlement be delegated to health care programs and tobacco prevention education, both ideas that have received some backing from among those in control — just not as much backing as Dunn would like. “I’ve written letters and talked to legislators but I don’t think I mean that much to them,”  he said, matter-of-factly, adding, “I honestly think that they’re more concerned with fixing streets and building stadiums.”

When talking to Dunn, there is no question that he feels the money should be directed toward helping those who are in need as a result of smoking and to those programs designed to prevent youths from ever starting as a teenager like he did. According to him, many states that have spent at least a portion of their settlement on youth smoking prevention programs — including Florida and Massachusetts — have cut down teen smoking tremendously, and it is his belief that Pennsylvania can do the same thing. “Only 25% of that money in tobacco prevention education — that’s all they need,” Dunn said, exasperated. “But it’s going to be tooth-and-nail for that money to go tobacco legislation.”

Six months ago, immediately following the rally, Bill Dunn stood in the Capitol and told me that he hoped the consequences that he suffered as a result of tobacco use would affect the decision-making of the legislators, with his voice serving as a whisper in their minds. “I hope that every time they get their pens, they remember this voice,“ he said then.

There is still time — and $11.3 billion dollars — left. It remains to be seen whether Bill Dunn’s voice plays a role in the proceedings.

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